What if Walt Disney was the producer of Looney Tunes/Walt Disney Animated Classics/The Emperor's New Groove
The Emperor's New Groove is a 2000 American animated musical buddy comedy-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Mark Dindal, produced by Randy Fullmer, written by David Reynolds, and stars David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt, Patrick Warburton, Hank Azaria and Wendie Malick. The film follows a teenage emperor named Kuzco who is transformed into a llama by his ex-advisor Yzma, who plans to summon the evil god Supai and destroy the sun so that she may retain her youth forever. In order for the emperor to change back into a human, he trusts a village leader named Pacha who escorts him back to the palace. Development for the film began in 1994 where it was conceived as a musical epic titled Kingdom of the Sun. Following his directorial debut with The Lion King, Roger Allers recruited English musician Sting to compose songs for the film. Because of the underwhelming box office performances of Pocahontas and Balto, Mark Dindal was brought in as co-director in order to add a comedic mood. Due to poor test screenings, creative differences with Dindal, and production falling behind schedule, Allers departed the project in which the film shifted from its dramatic musical approach into a more light-hearted comedy film. A documentary about the making of the film, titled The Sweatbox, details the production troubles that the film endured during its six years of development. The Emperor's New Groove was released in December 2000 to positive critical reception and was a box office success. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "My Funny Friend and Me" performed by Sting, but lost to "Things Have Changed" by Bob Dylan from Wonder Boys. A direct-to-video sequel to the film, titled Kronk's New Groove, was released in 2005. Plot Kuzco is the self-centered teenaged emperor of the Aztec, Incan and Mayan empire ("Perfect World"). One day, he summons Pacha, the headman of a nearby village, to inform him that he is building his enormous summer home, Kuzcotopia, on the site of Pacha's house. Pacha attempts to protest, but is dismissed. He also callously fires his ancient, power-hungry advisor Yzma for attempting to run the kingdom while he is preoccupied, infuriating her. She, along with her easily-distracted assistant Kronk, who is always accompanied by a talking squirrel named Bucky, enters to her secret laboratory and explains that she plans to kill Kuzco, take over the kingdom, and summon Supai, the god of darkness and death to steal the sun to keep her from aging ("Snuff Out the Light"). Yzma and Kronk attempt to poison Kuzco so that she can take full and permanent control of the empire, but the supposed poison turns out to be a potion which turns Kuzco into a llama. After knocking Kuzco unconscious, Yzma orders Kronk to dispose of him, but conscience-stricken Kronk loses the sack holding Kuzco, thanks to Bucky saying him that killing Kuzco will not solve anything. Pacha arrives in his village later that night and is welcomed by his family. Kuzco ends up in Pacha's village, accuses Pacha of transforming him into a llama and demands that Pacha help him return to the palace ("Take Me Back"). Pacha refuses unless Kuzco builds his summer home elsewhere, and Kuzco attempts to find his own way home. He ends up surrounded by a pack of jaguars, only to be saved by Pacha ("Stay Out of the Jungle"). Meanwhile, Yzma and Kronk create a fake funeral for Kuzco and Yzma takes over the kingdom. Later in the underground lair, Yzma summons Supai. Kronk later reveals that he never killed Kuzco much to Yzma's fury. Yzma then makes a deal with Supai that if he steals the sun, she'll give Kuzco's soul to him. Yzma and Kronk head out and begin to search the local villages for Kuzco. Kuzco feigns agreement with Pacha's demand, and Pacha leads him back toward the palace. On their way across a bridge Pacha falls through a weak plank. Kuzco refuses to help him as he says that he was going to put Pacha in prison for life but this was better. Pacha yells at Kuzco saying that they shook hands on it. Kuzco replies that you need hands to do that and that he has no hands. Kuzco then falls through a plank like Pacha and he and Pacha start fighting. The bridge shortly snaps and falls. Kuzco and Pacha fall down the cliff and end up stuck at the bottom. Working together, they climb up the cliff to reach the rope to pull themselves up the cliff. While climbing, Pacha grabs the rope, but it's stuck on a branch which scorpions then fall off onto Kuzco and Kuzco gets scared and falls. Pacha then grabs Kuzco and Kuzco's face gets stuck in a hole. The scorpions then climb up onto Pacha's back. Pacha gets scared and smacks his back onto the wall. This wakes up some bats in the wall with Kuzco that then attack Kuzco and launch him off. Kuzco, scared runs up the wall with Pacha and they land back on the cliff. After laughing about it, the cliff side Pacha is on begins to fall, and Kuzco saves him by grabbing onto Pacha's poncho and launching him back. Pacha finds out that Kuzco is starting to change his ways no matter how much Kuzco denies it. Pacha then says they should start going as it's a 4-day walk to the palace with no bridge. Kuzco then questions Pacha about this and Pacha says that he shook hands on it and he will still take Kuzco. Meanwhile, Yzma and Kronk get lost somewhere in the jungle and Yzma gets chased by bees. Kronk and Bucky meet a group of squirrels who tell them have seeing a talking llama begin chased by jaguars. Kuzco and Pacha stop at a roadside diner and disguise themselves as customers, since animals are not allowed in the diner. Soon, Yzma and Kronk arrive shortly after, while Bucky is outside, because of the no animals allowed rule. Pacha overhears Yzma discussing her plans to kill Kuzco with Kronk, and attempts to warn him. Kuzco, convinced Yzma is loyal, berates Pacha and returns to Yzma, only to overhear Yzma and Kronk discussing that they are seeking to give him to Supai so that he can kill him, and that the kingdom doesn't miss him at all. Kuzco realizes Pacha was right, but Pacha has left. After a repentant Kuzco spends the night alone in the jungle, the two reunite and make up ("My Funny Friend and Me"; sung by a chorus). Kuzco and Pacha go back to Pacha's village only to find that two of Pacha's elderly neighbors sent his relatives to his house only to be told that one was big and muscular and one was "scary beyond all reason", but it turns out to be Yzma and Kronk. Pacha warns his wife in private. Pacha's wife and kids then launch Yzma down the hill. who ends up looking like a pinata. Yzma then sees Kuzco and Pacha running off. She then tells Kronk, and shortly, he and Yzma race back to the palace after Kuzco and Pacha. Yzma and Kronk chase them until the pursuers get hit by lightning and fall into a chasm. ("Run Llama Run"; sung by a chorus). Kuzco and Pacha arrive at Yzma's laboratory only to find that their pursuers somehow got there first (by a method which, humorously, not even they know). Kronk changes sides after a vicious tongue-lashing from Yzma, and attempted to drop a chandelier on her, but her thin body enables her to escape harm, in retaliation, she drops him and Bucky down a trap door. Yzma summons Supai, forcing Kuzco and Pacha to grab all of the transformation potions they can and flee. After trying several formulas that convert Kuzco to other animals, and then back to a llama. After a battle with Supai, Supai is sent back to the underworld. Finding out they are down to only two vials, Yzma accidentally steps on one of the two, turning herself into a tiny kitten. A struggle ensues, and Pacha dangles from a ledge. Kuzco has then grown a conscience and saves the peasant. Yzma still almost manages to obtain the antidote, but is thwarted by the sudden reappearance of Kronk and Bucky. Kuzco becomes human again and sets out to redeem himself. Now a human again, and a more selfless ruler, Kuzco decides to build his summer home elsewhere, and Pacha suggests a neighbouring, unoccupied hill. Some time later, Kuzco joins Pacha and his family at his modest resort. Elsewhere, Kronk has become a scout leader, and trains a new batch of scouts, including the reluctant Yzma, who still remains a kitten. Cast and characters Production ''Kingdom of the Sun'' The idea of Kingdom of the Sun was conceived by Roger Allers and Matthew Jacobs, and development on the project began in 1994. Upon pitching the project to Walt Disney, Allers recalled Walt saying "it has all of the elements of a classic Disney film," and because of his directorial success on The Lion King that same year, Walt allowed Allers to have free rein with both the casting and the storyline. By January 1995, Variety reported that Allers was working on "an Inca-themed original story". In 1996, after Walt's death in 1995, the production crew traveled to Machu Picchu in Peru, to study Inca artifacts and architecture and the landscape this empire was created in. Kingdom of the Sun was to have been a tale of a emperor (voiced by David Spade) who finds a peasant (voiced by Owen Wilson) who looks just like him; the emperor swaps places with the peasant to escape his boring life and have fun, much as in author Mark Twain's archetypal novel The Prince and the Pauper. However, the evil witch Yzma has plans to summon the evil god Supai and destroy the sun so that she may retain her youth forever (she believes the sun gives her wrinkles, so she surmises that living in a world of darkness would prevent her from wrinkling). Discovering the switch between the prince and the peasant, Yzma turns the real emperor into a llama and threatens both to reveal the pauper's identity unless he obeys her. During his time as the emperor and doing Yzma's orders, the pauper falls in love with the emperor's so to be fiancé Nina (voiced by Carla Gugino) who thinks he is the emperor that has change his ways. Meanwhile, the emperor-llama learns humility in his new form and even comes to love a female llama named Mata (voiced by Laura Prepon). Together, the two llamas set out to undo the witch's plans. The book Reel Views 2 says the film would have been a "romantic comedy musical in the 'traditional' Disney style". Following the underwhelming box office performances of Pocahontas and Balto, studio executives felt the project was growing too ambitious and serious for audiences following test screenings, and needed more comedy. In early 1997, producer Randy Fullmer contacted Mark Dindal, who had just wrapped up work on Warner Bros.' Cats Don't Dance, and offered him to be co-director on Kingdom of the Sun. Meanwhile, Allers personally called Sting, in the wake of Elton John's success with The Lion King's soundtrack, to compose several songs for the film. He agreed, but on the condition that his filmmaker wife Trudie Styler could "document the process of the production". This film, which was eventually entitled The Sweatbox, was made by Xingu Films (their own production company). Along with collaborator David Hartley, Sting composed eight songs inextricably linked with the original plot and characters. In summer 1997, it was announced that Roger Allers and Mark Dindal would serve as the film's directors and Randy Fullmer as producer. David Spade and Eartha Kitt had been confirmed to voice the emperor, Manco, and the villainess, while Carla Gugino was in talks for the role of Nina. Harvey Fierstein was also cast as Hucua, Yzma's sidekick. By the summer of 1998, it was apparent that Kingdom of the Sun was not far along enough in production to be released in the summer of 2000 as planned. At this time, one of the Disney executives reportedly walked into Randy Fullmer's office and, placing his thumb and forefinger a quarter-inch apart, stated "your film is this close to being shut down." Fullmer approached Allers, and informed him of the need to finish the film on time for its summer 2000 release as crucial promotional deals with McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and other companies were already established and depended upon meeting that release date. Allers acknowledged that the production was falling behind, but was confident that, with an extension of between six months to a year, he could complete the film. When Fullmer denied Allers's request for an extension, the director decided to leave the project. On September 23, 1998, the project was dead with production costs amounting towards $25–30 million and twenty-five percent of the film animated. Production overhaul and script rewrite Upset that Allers left the project, then-Disney CEO and chairman Michael Eisner reportedly gave Fullmer two weeks to salvage the film or production would be shut down. Fullmer and Dindal halted production for six months to retool the project retitling it to Kingdom in the Sun, making it the first Disney animated feature to have an extensive overhaul since Pinocchio. Meanwhile, following Eric Goldberg's pitch for the Rhapsody in Blue segment for the TV special Looney Tunes' Music Tales, the animators were reassigned to work on the segment. In the interim, Chris Williams, who was a storyboard artist during Kingdom of the Sun, came up with the idea of making Pacha an older character as opposed to the teenager that he was in the original story. Following up on the new idea, former late-night comedy writer David Reynolds stated, "I pitched a simple comedy that's basically a buddy road picture with two guys being chased in the style of Looney Tunes, but faster paced." Disney said, 'Give it a shot.'" One of the new additions to the revised story was the scene-stealing character of Yzma's sidekick Kronk. Meanwhile, the name Manco was changed to Kuzco following Fullmer's discovery of the Japanese slang term manko, which translates to vagina. Andreas Deja declined to return to the film, observing his more serious version of Yzma was incompatible with the wackier, comedic tone of the film, and moved to Orlando, Florida, to work on Lilo and Stitch. Animator Dale Baer would replace Deja as the supervising animator for Yzma. Fulmer would inform Sting by telephone that he should write new songs due to Yzma's villain song titled "Snuff Out the Light" was the only song who was accepted for the film. The plot elements such as the romance between the llama herder Pacha and Manco's betrothed Nina, similarities to The Prince and the Pauper (since Disney already made a adaptation of this novel before), and Inca mythology were dropped, while the sun-capturing villain scheme was remained in the film to make an dramatic tension. The character of Hucua was also dropped from the story, though he would make a cameo appearance as the candle holder during the dinner scene in the finished film. Kuzco eventually became the protagonist. By summer 1999, cast members Owen Wilson, Harvey Fierstein, and Trudie Styler were dropped from the film. Eartha Kitt and David Spade remained in the cast, Dindal commented, "and then John Goodman and Patrick Warburton [who played Elaine's boyfriend Puddy on the Seinfeld series] came aboard." The song, "Perfect World", was approached "to open the movie with a big, fun number that established the power of Kuzco and showed how he controlled his kingdom", according to Feature Animation president Thomas Schumacher. The filmmakers had asked Sting to perform the song for the film, though Sting declined telling them that he was too old to sing it and that they should find someone younger and hipper. They instead went with Tom Jones, who is eleven years older than Sting. In February 2000, the new film was announced as The Emperor's New Groove with its new story centering on a spoiled Inca Emperor – voiced by David Spade – who through various twists and falls ends up learning the meaning of true happiness from a poor peasant, played by John Goodman. The release date was scheduled for December 2000. Despite the phrasing of the title, the film bears no relation to Hans Christian Andersen's classic Danish fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes" (although both stories involve an emperor being tricked). However, according to Mark V. Moorhead of the Houston Press, the film's plot does bear some resemblance to that of The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius, wherein a man is turned into a donkey. Eisner worried that the new story was too close in tone to Disney's 1997 film Hercules, which had performed decently yet below expectations at the American box office. Dindal and Fullmer assured him that The Emperor's New Groove, as the film was now called, would have a much smaller cast, making it easier to involve audiences. Towards the end of production, the film's ending originally had Kuzco building his Kuzcotopia amusement park on another hill by destroying a rainforest near Pacha's home, and inviting Pacha and his family to visit. Horrified at the ending, Sting commented that "I wrote them a letter and said, 'You do this, I'm resigning because this is exactly the opposite of what I stand for. I've spent 20 years trying to defend the rights of indigenous people and you're just marching over them to build a theme park. I will not be party to this." The ending was rewritten so that Kuzco constructs a shack similar to Pacha's and spends his vacation among the villagers. Design and animation Release Home media Reception Box office Critical response Accolades Sequel Trivia